University is a perfect model of the world: full of fantastic things to learn, and terrible mistakes to make, and nobody warns you about either of them until it’s too late. Oh, sure, some people make well-intentioned speeches at the start. But be honest. Inspiring speeches only work exactly two-thirds of the way through an American action movie. In the real-world inspiring speeches have to be supported by genuine belief and quite a lot of hard work. Luckily, those are also things university is all about. If you want to do it properly.
The most important thing to learn about university is that it’s your job to look after you. There’s no classroom anymore, no strictly enforced group, no teacher, no authority figure responsible for everybody’s wellbeing. There are lecturers, their job is to give lectures. There are tutors, their job is to give tutorials. There are physical and mental health support services, their job is to help people who come to them. Notice how none of those check up on anyone who isn’t there.
Everything in university is like that. Because in the real world everything is like that. But university is better. University is the greatest concentration of chances to improve yourself ever created in human history. Being born a Pharaoh would not give you access to the same opportunities as arriving in university, because no pharaoh got to choose between learning aerodynamics, trying a climbing wall, or chilling out with salted caramel gelato and a movie. Also, because most pharaohs were too worried about their mother/siblings/children usurping them to really enjoy what they had. Compared to that, exams are no problem!
Every university is stuffed with opportunities, many of which even the university doesn’t know about. They’ll hand you a syllabus, but they won’t hold your hand and point it at all the exam banks, social clubs, third-party services, or even the non-syllabus textbooks in the library which can give you insight into the questions posed by your courses. And that’s before we get to the internet, which most universities still treat as a place to assign homework and really badly designed course websites.
Remember, it’s your job to look after you. So, look for the things that can help! Even a few minutes searching for resources relating to your course can give you incredible advantages for the rest of your university career. The earlier you start, the more you’ll learn.
It’s your job to look after you.
The most important thing to learn about university is that it’s your job to look after you. There’s no classroom anymore, no strictly enforced group, no teacher, no authority figure responsible for everybody’s wellbeing. There are lecturers, their job is to give lectures. There are tutors, their job is to give tutorials. There are physical and mental health support services, their job is to help people who come to them. Notice how none of those check up on anyone who isn’t there.
Everything in university is like that. Because in the real world everything is like that. But university is better. University is the greatest concentration of chances to improve yourself ever created in human history. Being born a Pharaoh would not give you access to the same opportunities as arriving in university, because no pharaoh got to choose between learning aerodynamics, trying a climbing wall, or chilling out with salted caramel gelato and a movie. Also, because most pharaohs were too worried about their mother/siblings/children usurping them to really enjoy what they had. Compared to that, exams are no problem!
Every university is stuffed with opportunities, many of which even the university doesn’t know about. They’ll hand you a syllabus, but they won’t hold your hand and point it at all the exam banks, social clubs, third-party services, or even the non-syllabus textbooks in the library which can give you insight into the questions posed by your courses. And that’s before we get to the internet, which most universities still treat as a place to assign homework and really badly designed course websites.
Remember, it’s your job to look after you. So, look for the things that can help! Even a few minutes searching for resources relating to your course can give you incredible advantages for the rest of your university career. The earlier you start, the more you’ll learn.
